Jon Merrill was going to use rainbow-colored stick tape on the Wild's Pride Night later this season anyway, but now the defenseman won't be breaking league policy.
After banning specialty jerseys and gear from warmups, games and practices before the season, the NHL walked back its stance on stick tape, announcing Tuesday that players will have the option to voluntarily represent social causes with their tape.
This reversal came after Arizona's Travis Dermott recently became the first NHLer to go against the league rule and use Pride Tape on his stick.
"Really happy to hear it, and I think it's the right decision," Merrill said Tuesday night after the Wild defeated Edmonton 7-4 at Xcel Energy Center. "Obviously, I think all of us agree with that. It's good to see the league took the information that the players were giving them and took the feedback and made the right decision."
Over the summer, Commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet that teams won't be wearing any specialty warmup jerseys this season and the league later clarified this change to include a ban on Pride Tape.
Last season, some NHL players chose not to wear Pride jerseys on nights that supported the LGBTQ+ community, including then-Philadelphia defenseman Ivan Provorov, who cited his Russian Orthodox religion. The Wild held a Pride Night in March that included donating suites to Twin Cities Pride, Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association and Team Trans, but the team didn't wear rainbow jerseys as originally planned; no official reason was given.
During his interview with Sportsnet, Bettman said changing jerseys for warmups became "more of a distraction" from the purpose of the night.
Once the new tape rule became public earlier this month, it received backlash from around the hockey world, with players like reigning MVP Connor McDavid speaking out.
The Edmonton forward told reporters, "I've expressed disappointment in not being able to wear the various jerseys or the tapes or whatever, whether that's Pride Tape or pink tape or anything," McDavid said. "Is it something that I'd like to see put back into place one day? Certainly."
In his third season with the Wild, Merrill hosted a meet-and-greet after the team's Pride Night in March and was at the Twin Cities Pride parade in June, the fifth consecutive year the Wild participated.
Merrill's wife, Jessica Molina, also previously spearheaded an effort to donate tickets to Queerspace collective.
"To have the support of an athlete or somebody that they look up to in the community, it just means so much to them," Merrill said. "It's such an easy thing for me to do. It means a lot to me and my family."
The Wild's next Pride Night is scheduled for March 12 vs. the Coyotes, and Merrill plans to be involved again.
"I've been fortunate to meet a lot of members of the community, and it means a lot to them when we show the support and wear the tape or the jerseys or whatever it is and just to show them that they're included and that hockey is for everyone," Merrill said. "It really means a lot to a lot of people in the community, and there's a lot of hockey fans in that community and they deserve the right to be celebrated and to be acknowledged and the players to acknowledge the support that we have for them."
